Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi visited the mausoleum of the Republic of China's founding father Sun Yat-sen in Nanjing on Feb. 12 and offered a tribute in his official capacity. On Feb. 18, Kuomintang (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and urged Xi to face up to the existence of the ROC. Lien made the point that "the ROC, rather than a liability, is an asset in the advancement of cross-Taiwan Strait relations." In a positive response, Xi said "anything conducive to bilateral ties can be raised for discussion." On Feb.22, a pro-independence mob toppled a statue of Sun at a park in the southern Taiwan city of Tainan. Slogans like "ROC out" and "KMT down" were sprayed on the statue. These three scenarios highlighted the main division between the KMT-led pan-blue camp and the pan-green camp led by the major opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in their cross-strait policies. The pan-blue camp is striving to create room for the ROC under the "one China framework," while the pan-green camp is seeking to deny the ROC's existence and cut all links to China. In Taiwan, the act of tearing down the founding father's statue can be dealt with legally only by charging the perpetrators with "damaging public property," while chanting "ROC out" is regarded as freedom of speech. Indeed, the ROC is one of the few democratic countries in the world that is tolerant of such subversive schemes to overthrow the government. Toppling Sun's statue is nothing more than a display of shameful behavior, since the DPP's eight years in office proved that the path of independence led Taiwan nowhere. In contrast, the Wang-Zhang and Lien-Xi meetings, highly praised by the international community, are seen as strong efforts by the two sides to find a solution to their political issues in way that "must be able to create a space for the ROC under the 'one China' roof.'" To Taiwan, Sun Yat-sen and the ROC are the bonds that link this country to the "one China framework," and it is also the lever that counters heavy pressure from Beijing. With Beijing nowadays also paying great respect to Sun, it is absurd that a few pro-independence elements are trying to deny Sun's legacy by defacing his statue. When Wang's mention of "the 103-year-old ROC" at Sun's mausoleum in Nanjing is compared with the political farce at the Tainan park, it is clear that these pro-independence supporters are shallow and slow- witted and that both sides must embrace new thinking to respond to the call for facing up to the ROC. (Editorial abstract -- Feb.26, 2014) (By Flor Wang)